This is a excellent task for learning lisp, hope fully others will follow my lead and offer how to do it not code. I will talk about not using the array command.
Select a object use (entsel you can also get the selection point at same time Pt.
how many (getint
Distance apart (getdist or (getreal
(repeat howmany
Use (polar pt angle distance) to work out a new point
Copy object pt to newpt
set pt to newpt
end repeat
The use of a -ve distance will make the object go left if say simple circle.
Try Afralisp tutorials as a start or just Google say "getint lisp autocad" look up other commands.
Once you have 1 side working can then look at 2 sides.